The last six months or so has seen a veritable storm of high-end smartphones. While you can generally count on new hardware being released year-round, this holiday season is particularly busy. Between the iPhone 5, iOS 6, the Nexus 4, Android 4.2, and Windows Phone 8, things have changed quite a bit since the summer.

Even more exciting, the smartphone wars aren't just a two-horse race anymore. Apple and Samsung continue to be the giants in the field, but we're seeing attractive handsets from a newly competitive LG, a Google that seems more eager than ever to show its Android partners how it's done, an HTC that's eager to thin out its product portfolio and reverse its ill fortunes, and a Nokia that really wants its bet on Windows Phone to pay off.

We know all this new hardware and software can be hard to keep straight. To that end, we'll be taking some time over the next few weeks to go in-depth on the state of the smartphone: we'll be examining not just the available hardware and software, but also which hardware and software will work best for particular uses. More than ever, smartphones are powerful devices that can handle an increasingly large amount of the work formerly unique to full-fledged computers. But just like the PC market, the hardware and software you buy is going to depend on what kind of things you need to use it for.

For the purposes of this overview, we're going to be focusing on current, high-end iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8 handsets. These aren't the only players in the field, but they're certainly the most consequential: smaller platforms like Tizen, Open WebOS, and Firefox OS are either still in development or not widely available commercially. As for BlackBerry, RIM seems to be all but begging users, developers, and the press alike to wait for BlackBerry 10 to come out before writing it off... so that's what we'll do. Expect more coverage of RIM's latest as its projected March 2013 launch date approaches, but BlackBerry won't factor into today's discussion.

To kick off this series, we'll examine each platform's major strengths and weaknesses, then dive into specific phones and use cases.

The Platforms

iOS

However you feel about Apple, iOS and the iPhone redefined the smartphone market when they were released in 2007. Five major OS updates later it's still a solid platform; Apple has added its own unique features (iCloud, Siri, Passbook, and others) to keep the iPhone fresh, while borrowing the best features from other platforms (the Notification Center, in particular) to keep it competitive. In iOS, Apple focuses on creating a smooth and responsive experience above all—the screen usually reacts instantly to touch, and even in cases where applications don't launch instantly, Apple makes good use of animations and transitions throughout the system to let users know that their input has been recognized.

The biggest draw of Apple's smartphone platform continues to be its vibrant third-party application library. There are problems, both real and imagined, with Apple's opaque application approval process and the limitations imposed by its sandboxing model. But the breadth, depth, and general level of polish among the applications available trumps both Android and Windows Phone.

This is because, generally speaking, the iOS platform is pretty developer-friendly: compared to Android there are just a few different devices and screen sizes that must be tested against. iOS users tend to both download more apps and to pay more for those apps as well. There may be restrictions on what developers can do, but if you're looking to earn a return on your investment, Apple's platform is the one to beat in the mobile space.

Gaming, in particular, is one of Apple's strengths. The development environment attracts not just big mobile game publishers like Rovio or Halfbrick, but also droves of independent developers who put out small-but-memorable titles like Tiny Wings and 10000000. Apple's products tend to have more powerful graphics processors than most competing phones as well.

The other benefit to buying into the iOS platform is the hardware's relative longevity. iPhones tend to receive regular software updates (and their accompanying new features, security patches, and stability enhancements) for years after their release, regardless of which carrier you prefer. The most recent version of iOS runs on four generations of iPhone, reaching all the way back to 2009's iPhone 3GS. Not all phones support all of the operating system's features, but the general feature set, look and feel, and (more importantly for developers) list of supported APIs is consistent across all of the phones.

All of that said, the platform's biggest weakness (at least for some users) is its inflexibility. Apple controls every aspect of the user experience, meaning that if you don't like its app launcher, keyboard, or default Web browser and e-mail programs, you can't do much to change them. (Alternative programs for many tasks do exist, but Apple's restrictions prevent them from becoming fully integrated into the operating system.) iOS's home screen is also the least flexible of our chosen mobile platforms. You can only arrange app icons and folders into a grid on the home screen, but these icons are static images that can't provide information dynamically. Yes, each icon can display a number to alert you of items that need your attention, but what this number means can vary widely from app to app. Application widgets can't be placed on the home screen, and third-party developers can't produce widgets for the Notification Center either. Simply put, iOS is the way it is. That won't be a problem for many users, but it can feel unnecessarily restrictive to others.

Android

iOS' greatest weakness is in many ways Android's greatest strength: the platform is almost infinitely flexible. Google provides an increasingly polished, cohesive base operating system. On top of it, handset makers, carriers, the open source community, and even end users can build basically anything they want. Don't like Android's icons? Change them. Don't like how the keyboard works? Replace it. Don't like the layout or operating of the default home screen? Install a new one. Many alternatives exist in the Google Play store, which places relatively few restrictions on the kind of apps developers can and can't offer.

This lack of restrictions also allows applications to work together more freely, as they can on a more full-fledged computer. Android's Intents system allows an application to tell the operating system what it can do—open a link, upload a file, send a Tweet, and so on. Any application that needs to perform one of those activities can then choose among different applications and services on the phone. A link in an e-mail can be opened in either Firefox or Chrome by default, for example, where in iOS only Safari can open links by default.

The home screen itself is also pretty flexible. Like iOS, you'll mostly be using static icons to launch applications, but Android also allows the use of widgets to view small amounts of information without having to jump all the way into an app. If you just want a birds-eye view of your calendar or inbox, or if you'd like quick access to settings like screen brightness and whether Bluetooth is enabled, widgets will let you do all of that more quickly and more flexibly than in iOS.

All of this flexibility in software also extends to greater flexibility in hardware—Android's open nature allows just about anyone to use it on their phones (and just about everyone does). Android phones are a diverse bunch, but generally speaking the high-end phones tend to use larger, higher-resolution screens and fast processors with more cores. These features do, however, generally come at the cost of reduced battery life.

For all of its virtues, Android's extreme flexibility means it's also plagued by another F-word: fragmentation. Android looks and acts similarly on different phones, but not identically. Each manufacturer's UI skin requires a certain amount of getting used to, making it more difficult to hop from phone to phone. Phone makers and carriers are also notorious for taking a devil-may-care approach to software updates, meaning most handsets are running older versions of Android that are missing security patches and recently introduced features. If you want to avoid this problem, you can always buy a phone or tablet from Google's Nexus line, which is treated as a "reference" platform for Android and tends to get new software updates promptly for a few years. No other third-party manufacturer has committed to releasing timely updates for any amount of time.

This fragmentation also means the experience of using Android can vary widely from handset to handset. Android, especially in versions prior to the first "Jelly Bean" release over the summer, has long had issues with user interface smoothness. Things like scrolling and swiping are sometimes jerky and inconsistent. Android phone makers have tried to compensate for this by throwing ever-faster hardware at the operating system, and indeed, a phone running a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon chip tends to feel speedy regardless of what version of Android it's running. All of the Android phones we recommend feature Snapdragon chips (as do the Windows Phones, for that matter). OEM and carrier-installed skins can still bog things down, though. I find that Samsung's TouchWiz and HTC's Sense UI, in particular, both tend to bog things down even if you're running the supposedly smooth Jelly Bean (as does HTC's Droid DNA).

The hardware and software diversity makes everything a bit more difficult for developers, who can't possibly test their apps on all available hardware and software combinations. Earlier this year, one app developer said its app was downloaded by nearly 4,000 distinct devices in a six-month period—however large Apple's iOS lineup grows, it won't be a patch on Android's diversity.

Windows Phone 8

When you think of Microsoft, you typically don't think of design as the company's strongest suit, but it's definitely Windows Phone's trump card. Where iOS and Android cling to desktop-style icons and widgets, Windows Phone's Live Tiles are both more aesthetically striking and more useful. Unlike static icons, the live tiles can give you dynamically updated information, whether it's Twitter mentions, unread e-mails, photos from your camera roll, or game scores. Apps can display basically any information they want, and users can resize tiles to three different sizes to help control how much information is displayed. Unlike the basic icon badges used in iOS and Android, larger live tiles can also show helpful contextual information to let you know exactly what you're looking at.

The operating system's general look and feel are quite slick and fluid as well, and even the simple act of swiping through Windows Phone's home screen and applications looks and feels great. Both the HTC 8X and Nokia Lumia 920 use the same chip as Samsung's Galaxy SIII, the Qualcom Snapdragon S4 Plus, but the Windows phones are much more responsive. Android's responsiveness and fluidity is greatly improved in the latest version, but the aforementioned maze of OEMs and carriers will ensure this update rolls out to current phones belatedly, if at all. Windows Phone 8's update situation should be less complicated—while carriers can choose to delay updates if they wish, Microsoft promised that end users will be able to circumvent this and install the updates anyway.

Another point in Redmond's favor, at least if you work in a Microsoft-oriented business, is Windows Phone's tight integration with both consumer services like SkyDrive and business-oriented services like SharePoint or Office 365. A native Microsoft Office app, something that iOS and Android continue to lack, allows for the easy creation and editing of Office documents with minimal compatibility or formatting problems.

All of that said, Windows Phone hasn't yet found a wide audience. It's a problem from which most of the platform's major issues stem. Windows Phone suffers from a relative lack of apps, especially with some high-profile apps not available (see Hulu, Spotify, Pandora, etc.). Another issue is that some of the most interesting features we pointed out in our review work only with other Windows Phones, something other members of your social and professional circles are statistically unlikely to have.

Looking down the road a bit, another problem will come from the transition between Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8. All Windows Phone 7 apps will continue to run in Windows Phone 8, and the app store doesn't have to start from scratch again as it did just two short years ago. However, apps developed for Windows Phone 8 won't be compatible with Windows Phone 7, and no existing Windows Phone 7 handsets will be upgraded to the new version of the operating system.

This is a troubling attitude on Microsoft's part: we don't know what the company is going to do in the future, but we do know it just burned all of its early adopters (not least the poor souls who bought the Nokia Lumia 900 barely half a year ago). With this as our only precedent, recommending a Windows Phone handset becomes fraught with uncertainty. If you buy a Windows phone now, it will probably be kept up-to-date through the life of a standard two-year contract. But if you'd prefer to wait a few months or even a year to see whether the app situation improves, you might just be buying into an ecosystem with a limited shelf life.

241 Reader Comments

The integration with Exchange is much tighter on WP8 than on Android. Email, contact management, calendaring, group appointments, to-do's etc. Opening an attached MS office doc brings up your phone's app and allows you to edit, save and reply with the modified doc. Almost all MS shops are (or have) implemented Sharepoint, which gives secure access to files on the internal network for editing and saving.

That's good to know and would be a nice "productivity" feature. We use Exchange at work (via Office 365) but no Sharepoint. Does WP8 have an exposed file structure now?

Sort of. Parts of the file system is exposed via MTP, and there's a Documents folder for which you can copy things to that can be recognized by Office.

Can I put PDFs in the documents folder to, or just MS Office files?

One of the things I had a bit of difficulty with in the brief time I used iOS was organizing and finding files. This was probably due to inexperience with the OS and trying to use it like I do a traditional desktop OS. For instance, many times I will want to access a presentation, but not remember if it was sent as a PPT or a PDF. On a desktop this isn't a problem because I just go to the client folder and browse (and can then also be reminded that I have a Word doc that has notes on the presentation that I should also review)

The integration with Exchange is much tighter on WP8 than on Android. Email, contact management, calendaring, group appointments, to-do's etc. Opening an attached MS office doc brings up your phone's app and allows you to edit, save and reply with the modified doc. Almost all MS shops are (or have) implemented Sharepoint, which gives secure access to files on the internal network for editing and saving.

That's good to know and would be a nice "productivity" feature. We use Exchange at work (via Office 365) but no Sharepoint. Does WP8 have an exposed file structure now?

Sort of. Parts of the file system is exposed via MTP, and there's a Documents folder for which you can copy things to that can be recognized by Office.

Can I put PDFs in the documents folder to, or just MS Office files?

One of the things I had a bit of difficulty with in the brief time I used iOS was organizing and finding files. This was probably due to inexperience with the OS and trying to use it like I do a traditional desktop OS. For instance, many times I will want to access a presentation, but not remember if it was sent as a PPT or a PDF. On a desktop this isn't a problem because I just go to the client folder and browse (and can then also be reminded that I have a Word doc that has notes on the presentation that I should also review)

Where iOS and Android cling to desktop-style icons and widgets, Windows Phone's Live Tiles are both more aesthetically striking and more useful. Unlike static icons, the live tiles can give you dynamically updated information, whether it's Twitter mentions, unread e-mails, photos from your camera roll, or game scores. Apps can display basically any information they want, and users can resize tiles to three different sizes to help control how much information is displayed. Unlike the basic icon badges used in iOS and Android, larger live tiles can also show helpful contextual information to let you know exactly what you're looking at.

Why so much love for Live Tiles and so little for Android's widgets? This seems to be a common thing in most of the reviews I've seen. Why do Live Tiles "give you dynamically updated information" whereas the rest are "basic icon badges"?

As far as I can tell, widgets on Android can do everything Live Tiles can. Plus, they aren't limited to three sizes - the developer can define a bunch of different sizes (I've seen as small as 1x1 and as large as 4x4) and the user can pick whichever one best suits their needs.

Are the reviewers (and not only on Ars) not really familiar with Android's widgets? Or is there something else going on with Live Tiles that I'm not aware of?

"The good stuff about the 920 (aside from the fact that it feels like it could stop a bullet)"

Stop that. Nokia's ultra-Scandinavian 'Built like a Volvo/brick' designers don't need any encouragement. Maybe their true destiny is to make horribly over-specced iphones cases for NATO.

On the contrary one of the things I like most about the 920 is the size and heft. When I was looking for a new phone the physical feel of the 920 is what initially made me even consider WP8 and one of he big things that won me over. Compared to the 920 the 8X, Optimus G and Note 2 all feel flimsy and cheap. I applaud Nokia for building a device that feels luxurious and high quality in the hand, a d decided to vote with my wallet to encourage that design choice.

I agree with this. I'm very tempted by the Lumia 920, primarily because of the design, including the fact that it has got some weight to it. Of course coming from the fact that I currently use both a Casio Gz'One and a Nokia n900 in combination, the Lumia would actually be lightening my load.

That said, on a more practical level I think I'll be more suited by the capabilities of the Note 2, even though it's not nearly as pretty to look at (or hold).

Andrew, I do not get how you pick Android as the best productivity phone. I have an Android phone and if Sprint would ever get a selection of Windows phones I would make the move immediately, as Android sucks in the Enterprise. The exchange accounts delete randomly or just quits syncing calendar, email or contacts or all of the above. You cannot do content creation without paying for a 3rd party application as the Documents to Go is read only, so you would have to purchase a license if you wanted to create documents. Windows phones at least come with Office and eliminate that limitation. Also who has the need for VPN on their phone when Citrix is available (which I do not like using a smartphone either, as the screens are to small). Windows supports built-in native file management with our document management system, Android and iOs do not. Blackberrys also have support for DM file/email management. Exchange/Office/Content creation and stability for mail sync on a smartphone is the main consideration, not gmail/VPN support. Android loses on all fronts.Both iOS and Android also do not support all of Exchanges features such as Outlook Notes, but Windows and Blackberry's phones do. For someone who lives in Notes (not one notes, but Outlook Notes) that is key as well. Very disappointing review and your criteria was very lacking as well, as you did it from a consumer stand point not an enterprise point of view as far as the productivity pick.

Andrew, I do not get how you pick Android as the best productivity phone. I have an Android phone and if Sprint would ever get a selection of Windows phones I would make the move immediately, as Android sucks in the Enterprise. The exchange accounts delete randomly or just quits syncing calendar, email or contacts or all of the above. You cannot do content creation without paying for a 3rd party application as the Documents to Go is read only, so you would have to purchase a license if you wanted to create documents. Windows phones at least come with Office and eliminate that limitation. Also who has the need for VPN on their phone when Citrix is available (which I do not like using a smartphone either, as the screens are to small). Windows supports built-in native file management with our document management system, Android and iOs do not. Blackberrys also have support for DM file/email management. Exchange/Office/Content creation and stability for mail sync on a smartphone is the main consideration, not gmail/VPN support. Android loses on all fronts.Both iOS and Android also do not support all of Exchanges features such as Outlook Notes, but Windows and Blackberry's phones do. For someone who lives in Notes (not one notes, but Outlook Notes) that is key as well. Very disappointing review and your criteria was very lacking as well, as you did it from a consumer stand point not an enterprise point of view as far as the productivity pick.

I specifically note that Windows Phone is excellent for Microsoft-dependent businesses. Productivity doesn't begin and end with Exchange.

The integration with Exchange is much tighter on WP8 than on Android. Email, contact management, calendaring, group appointments, to-do's etc. Opening an attached MS office doc brings up your phone's app and allows you to edit, save and reply with the modified doc. Almost all MS shops are (or have) implemented Sharepoint, which gives secure access to files on the internal network for editing and saving.

That's good to know and would be a nice "productivity" feature. We use Exchange at work (via Office 365) but no Sharepoint. Does WP8 have an exposed file structure now?

Sort of. Parts of the file system is exposed via MTP, and there's a Documents folder for which you can copy things to that can be recognized by Office.

Can I put PDFs in the documents folder to, or just MS Office files?

One of the things I had a bit of difficulty with in the brief time I used iOS was organizing and finding files. This was probably due to inexperience with the OS and trying to use it like I do a traditional desktop OS. For instance, many times I will want to access a presentation, but not remember if it was sent as a PPT or a PDF. On a desktop this isn't a problem because I just go to the client folder and browse (and can then also be reminded that I have a Word doc that has notes on the presentation that I should also review)

Regarding how easy it is to share files on Android, compared to iOS, you say: "this in turn makes it much simpler to edit a document on your phone while you're on the train and have those edits available on your computer once you get to your desk."

Isn't it incredible that I can do it on my iOS devices, without even having to choose a particular sharing method (be it Dropbox, mail, iCould, or any method the creators of the app have implemented)?

Where iOS and Android cling to desktop-style icons and widgets, Windows Phone's Live Tiles are both more aesthetically striking and more useful. Unlike static icons, the live tiles can give you dynamically updated information, whether it's Twitter mentions, unread e-mails, photos from your camera roll, or game scores. Apps can display basically any information they want, and users can resize tiles to three different sizes to help control how much information is displayed. Unlike the basic icon badges used in iOS and Android, larger live tiles can also show helpful contextual information to let you know exactly what you're looking at.

Why so much love for Live Tiles and so little for Android's widgets? This seems to be a common thing in most of the reviews I've seen. Why do Live Tiles "give you dynamically updated information" whereas the rest are "basic icon badges"?

As far as I can tell, widgets on Android can do everything Live Tiles can. Plus, they aren't limited to three sizes - the developer can define a bunch of different sizes (I've seen as small as 1x1 and as large as 4x4) and the user can pick whichever one best suits their needs.

Are the reviewers (and not only on Ars) not really familiar with Android's widgets? Or is there something else going on with Live Tiles that I'm not aware of?

You are correct in that Android gadgets can do everything Live Tiles can. Microsoft chose the middle road between iOS and Android, in that it gave the app tile the ability to transmit real-time information from the app itself, but MS limited the choices the developer has in customizing the tile itself. I believe they did that to minimize clutter and to keep the UI consistent. Some people will appreciate that... others won't.

I think something that is coming clearly through the comments is that there doesn't seem to be one strong camp.

This can only be a good thing for a competing market that, no matter what the reviewer has come up with here there is strong consumer defense for almost each and every phone, and definitely each ecosystem.

For me, at least, there isn't one clear out and out winner, reviews and comments considered - except perhaps the consumers. Decide what you prefer and go for it!

Personally I love the diversity. Having not wanted to move from iPhone for a number of years it's great to have an opportunity for change and experience something new!

Andrew, I do not get how you pick Android as the best productivity phone. I have an Android phone and if Sprint would ever get a selection of Windows phones I would make the move immediately, as Android sucks in the Enterprise. The exchange accounts delete randomly or just quits syncing calendar, email or contacts or all of the above. You cannot do content creation without paying for a 3rd party application as the Documents to Go is read only, so you would have to purchase a license if you wanted to create documents. Windows phones at least come with Office and eliminate that limitation. Also who has the need for VPN on their phone when Citrix is available (which I do not like using a smartphone either, as the screens are to small). Windows supports built-in native file management with our document management system, Android and iOs do not. Blackberrys also have support for DM file/email management. Exchange/Office/Content creation and stability for mail sync on a smartphone is the main consideration, not gmail/VPN support. Android loses on all fronts.Both iOS and Android also do not support all of Exchanges features such as Outlook Notes, but Windows and Blackberry's phones do. For someone who lives in Notes (not one notes, but Outlook Notes) that is key as well. Very disappointing review and your criteria was very lacking as well, as you did it from a consumer stand point not an enterprise point of view as far as the productivity pick.

I specifically note that Windows Phone is excellent for Microsoft-dependent businesses. Productivity doesn't begin and end with Exchange.

And I made note of that with my content creation comments which you seemed to overlook. Those who choose a phone for productivity purposes as using it in an exchange environment foremost. And even if not, good luck creating content on an Android phone as it comes with nothing out of the box that allows for that, whereas Windows phones do, not to mention their tight integration into office 360 (Which you brought up). If you wish to perform any content creation on an Android or iOS phone not only do you have to hit their app stores to fined the appropriate application, but it is more than likely a pay app. Why pay for something when the competing product has it integrated already and you know that app will not cause pagination or formatting issues when you email and open it on your desktop/laptop?

The only thing lacking would be a blurb about what is coming in 2013, and whether it would make sense to wait for the next wave of devices. I know in general it's always better to wait, but for those waiting for contracts to expire, it can help cool the gadget lust.

Wow, the size of the 920 is so overstated, it's ridiculous how people exaggerate it. I have had the 920 for 3 days now and I come from the tiny 3.5" iPhone 4 and my first impression when I held it was how people have been exaggerating the whole size issue. I don't have big hands at all, but the 920 is absolutely fine if a 4.5" inch phone is what you want. The grip thing doesn't really hold true for my phone either as the matte black also has pretty good texture.

Would it have been nice to have the size and weight of the 8X? Sure, but we're quite literally talking about 1mm and 50 grams here. No way I'll trade that for the ridiculous low-light performance of the camera (most photos you take are under less than ideal lighting), great video stability (make a huge difference), sensitive touch screen (there's a reason why capacitive-touch gloves are a market at all, cold fingers suck) and quality Nokia apps. Also: 32 GB vs 16 GB! The 32 GB allows me to throw most of my favorite music on my phone, download offline maps and still have room for photos and video and apps. The 16 GB on my iPhone 4 has always been a squeeze for me and the freedom the 32 GB offers is fantastic.

More minor things are the 768 resolution which prevents letterboxing on WP7 apps (those will be the mainstay for a while still), larger battery (though that does not necessarily mean the 920 will last longer, I've heard conflicting reports, battery life is a fickle thing) and wireless charging (nice if public places start offering wireless charge opportunities).

Andrew, I do not get how you pick Android as the best productivity phone. I have an Android phone and if Sprint would ever get a selection of Windows phones I would make the move immediately, as Android sucks in the Enterprise. The exchange accounts delete randomly or just quits syncing calendar, email or contacts or all of the above. You cannot do content creation without paying for a 3rd party application as the Documents to Go is read only, so you would have to purchase a license if you wanted to create documents. Windows phones at least come with Office and eliminate that limitation. Also who has the need for VPN on their phone when Citrix is available (which I do not like using a smartphone either, as the screens are to small). Windows supports built-in native file management with our document management system, Android and iOs do not. Blackberrys also have support for DM file/email management. Exchange/Office/Content creation and stability for mail sync on a smartphone is the main consideration, not gmail/VPN support. Android loses on all fronts.Both iOS and Android also do not support all of Exchanges features such as Outlook Notes, but Windows and Blackberry's phones do. For someone who lives in Notes (not one notes, but Outlook Notes) that is key as well. Very disappointing review and your criteria was very lacking as well, as you did it from a consumer stand point not an enterprise point of view as far as the productivity pick.

I specifically note that Windows Phone is excellent for Microsoft-dependent businesses. Productivity doesn't begin and end with Exchange.

Andrew, I think this brings out a major blind spot with regards to all the online reviews of WP8. I would be surprised if many of the organizations which those reviewers belong to actually use MS enterprise products in their network. In fact, I think the percentage would actually be very low, or even nil. I don't find that surprising, given that bloggers have historically been either solo enthusiasts or small internet start-ups.

However, as blogging sites such as Ars have grown up and increased in readership/clout, it behooves you to expand your test scenarios to include enterprise-level networks. If that is not possible, make it clear, at least, that your testing was limited to consumer-grade or publicly-available internet services.

I think something that is coming clearly through the comments is that there doesn't seem to be one strong camp.

This can only be a good thing for a competing market that, no matter what the reviewer has come up with here there is strong consumer defense for almost each and every phone, and definitely each ecosystem.

For me, at least, there isn't one clear out and out winner, reviews and comments considered - except perhaps the consumers. Decide what you prefer and go for it!

Personally I love the diversity. Having not wanted to move from iPhone for a number of years it's great to have an opportunity for change and experience something new!

Definitely. Every phone on here looks like a fantastic device. If I'd seen a line-up like this 5 years ago I would have been instantly sold on "smart phones."

And I'm very excited to see how Windows 8 performs (especially in terms of 3rd party development).

If you can’t afford health insurance, you can’t afford a smart phone. If you can’t afford your mortgage or your rent, you can’t afford a smart phone. If you can’t afford to pay for your groceries, you can’t afford a smart phone. Period.

...

So back to the issue of what phone to get. Well, that depends. Is your emergency fund fully stocked? Are you able to hit your savings targets each month and cover all the basic expenses without much trouble? Do you pay off your credit cards in full every month? Do you have leftover money and a smart phone is really, truly the thing that will bring you the most value for that money? If so, then have at it.

... Pages only working with Macs. I would like to note, however, that you can access your Pages documents from iCloud.com

Also, you can save a document in .doc format into a Dropbox folder. Pages is the worse example for a wordprocessor that can effortlessly share documents with no or minimal conversion, but it less closed than stated in the review.

So, you guys are just going to ignore Blackberry as a smartphone platform?

Editor Moonshark says:

The decision was made to exclude them as they are on the cusp of releasing BB10 and all new hardware next year. This was addressed in the article.

At this point, what current Blackberry would you include?

Frankly, their present hardware and software is so outdated comparisons would be brutal and it was clearly stated Ars would wait until BB10 is released before including it. Under the circumstances, that is reasonable and gracious.

I hope for their own sake BB10 is a big step forward otherwise the future is dim for their users, which is still a significant share in some markets.

You mentioned that the iPhone was poor for productivity (which I don't necessarily disagree with) and gave the example of Pages only working with Macs. I would like to note, however, that you can access your Pages documents from iCloud.com, not just from a Mac running Pages. It even gives you the option to download in PDF or Word.

edit: Being more specific about the correction.

This also assumes you are using Pages. I use Evernote to keep my lab notes in. I can edit them on what ever platform I choose. I also use Numbers to collect data and upload it to my Mac with Dropbox or Evernote for analysis.

So did Ars actually perform a head-to-head comparison of the cameras in the iPhone 5 and the Lumia 920, or did you just let Foresman take a few pictures of buildings in Chicago with his iPhone and then call it for the iPhone?

If anyone is worried about the weight/feel of a 920 in the hand, I would strongly encourage you to try one out. I almost didn't get one after all the negative reviewer comments about the weight (which seemed to be the only consistently bad comment) but decided to try one for myself. After holding one in the store, I couldn't believe how much the weight/size had been (over)emphasized by reviewers.

I don't find the 920 to be all that much heavier or bulkier than my iPhone 4 and I don't feel like I need to put it in a case either. The hardware is a dream to use (you really have to see the screen live) and when compared to the HTC 8X it was $100 less (AT&T contract upgrade price) with more storage, a better screen, a better camera, wireless charging and the Nokia-exclusive app value adds. It was really a no brainer for me.

Smaller size is one of the features I really like about my iP4S and I'm probably one of the few who was disappointed to find the iP5 larger.

But if you are an Android user, the Sony Experia miniPro is an awesome little phone with a slide-ouut qwerty keyboard, a bit thick but small enough to fit in your palm. My sister borrowed mine a year ago and refused to give it back. A bit outdated now, but still a really nice 2nd phone if you can find one cheap.

which made me chose both times for samsung (first the Note which my wife fel in love with 2nd the s3) i would have like something from the nexus brand however since none have the option to load extra memorycard i didn´t. i have now in both phones an extra card(Note 16gb and in my s3 32gb) which for music is a must!!! not everywhere 3g works, a specially once your travelling to other countries besides some of the extra cost you would run up if it were available.

Also the first Note has a complete office package installed on it. (the new Note probably has it as well) Which makes these phones the ultimate office mate. besides it being a notepad.

So did Ars actually perform a head-to-head comparison of the cameras in the iPhone 5 and the Lumia 920, or did you just let Foresman take a few pictures of buildings in Chicago with his iPhone and then call it for the iPhone?

I've heard from a few places that the 920 loses in daylight photos but is better in low light. Maybe that's what they're refering to? It seems to me it'd be a tie or with the 920 for it's superior video capability.

All that talk about ‘choice’ within Android, yet the phones here range from large to extra-large. There are two midsizers with decent specs (except in one or two areas), the Motorola Droid RAZR M and HTC One S. They’re right for some of us.

What would be the best phone in a 4.5 inch category that is at least 720p? I currently use the Samsung S3 and I find it to unwieldy for my hands. I previously had the iPhone 4 but I think that is to small. I also would like LTE also, here my HSPA+ speeds are just as bad as 3G, but LTE is blazing fast.

>> Where iOS and Android cling to desktop-style icons and widgets, Windows Phone's Live Tiles are both more aesthetically striking and more useful. <<

1"Aesthetically pleasing" is very subjective. The tiles in WP7 are depressingly dull. In WP8 you get colors, but the tiles are arranged to close together for my liking. WP8 looks "busy". WP7 didn't have enough visual distinction. A well done icon and a sensible arrangement top that. I also happen to like well-done icon.

2How are tiles more useful? How many of them actually display anything more than a number - which is the same as a badge, only more difficult to spot. 99% of all "live" tiles are just app icons.Android has WIDGETS. They come in all sizes and are able to carry much more information -i.e. are more useful- than a tile could ever dream to be.

3The icon-homescreen-metaphor is easier to navigate. In WP, you get one long, neverending list of tiles. Once you have more than 30 Apps/tiles, you get to scroll a lot and if your app is somewhere in the middle, you get to hunt down that tile. It's decidedly easier to remember which homescreen an icon is on, then swiping precisely to it and let muscle memory work its magic.The alternative way to discover icons is the app drawer, which is more homescreens, for Android and for Windows Phone its ONE. LOOONG. LIST.

--The Windows Phone UI has some very interesting ideas, I like the black background, font-driven style. But the Launcher or Homescreen is just a disaster in terms of usability. You get fewer app icons per screen (unless you choose 1x1 icons all the way, which looks like ass) and they are one continuously scrolling list, making app discovery a nightmare.

Apple came up with an awesome UI - although it's just an evolution of classic smartphone UIs. It's both functional and visually pleasing. Android then copied it, and added some invaluable things: widgets, notification center and the app drawer.

The icon-homescreen-metaphor is easier to navigate. In WP, you get one long, neverending list of tiles. Once you have more than 30 Apps/tiles, you get to scroll a lot and if your app is somewhere in the middle, you get to hunt down that tile. It's decidedly easier to remember which homescreen an icon is on, then swiping precisely to it and let muscle memory work its magic.The alternative way to discover icons is the app drawer, which is more homescreens, for Android and for Windows Phone its ONE. LOOONG. LIST.

Uh, the home screen is only for your most frequently used apps. Not everything. To the right is the everything list which is alphabetical, searchable, and contains a jumplist by letter. It's very fast in practice.

Apple's alleged "hardware longevity" as a positive is a shame. The sword swings both ways if android has a weakness because it suffers from fragmentation than the iPhone has a weakness in that it doesn't support legacy devices (if you guessed the reason for this is fragmentation congratulations). You can run Jelly Bean on the G1. It might not run well, but with an android when the manufacturer deserts you the scene doesn't.

Decent article. I'd love to have seen one bit of spin added to it: not just "best productiviy" but specifically seperate end users from corporate phones. aka, if you were to be in the market for a BYOD phone for work, what impact is placed on your choice, and similarly, if you're a company buying phones for end users what should you be looking for?

For example, out of the VAST majority of my clients, they're subject to HIPAA, SOx, or even STIG rules, which means Android can only play if they further invest in 3rd party servers and per-phone encryption licensing, which also strictly limits phone choice. Further, due to security rules, some companies have to disable USB and SD access on phones connected to their network, removing core buying points from some platforms or forcing choices to phones with more internal and less external storage due to encryption hardware support. My current client, AVID android lovers and die hard apple haters, recently changed to issuing iPhones to all corporate employees when they dumped blackberry as Android has turned out to be a) too expensive to support, b) creates numerous user issues, and 3) we've even issued and then recalled hundreds of phones for stupid UI issues (like the HTC Design not supporting corporate directory in the mail app!). It was woefully inconsistant, and created a significant IT burden. Moving to iOS allowed them to eliminate all 3rd party security servers for phones entirely, and eliminate handset specific licensing as well, all for installing a single $900 Apple Server and using customized phone profiles pushed by Exchange. IT no longer even has to configure a phone fgor end users, thery can be given 1 sheet of paper and do it themselves, so Apple is now the ONLY phone supproted by a group and anti-apple android fanbois at corporate.

I know this is part one, I'd love to see some more in depth about corpoate phones and choices, and implications, in part 2.

Excellent point. My company's policy requirements pretty much match your narrative and for that reason we were issued company BBYs up until last winter when they finally started a BYOD policy; within 3 months that policy became a BBY (already have the server) or IOS only policy for exactly the reason you mentioned - support was a massive headache. Many pissed-off Android users toting re-issued BBYs these days.

So my conclusion is BBY still has a chance with corporate buyers if they don't screw-up and I'm interested to see what happens with BB10 (not asking for one, just curious).

I was actually quite surprised Windows 8 shipped without VPN and a decent corporate client package, I expected this to be a main feature set, actually.

How are tiles more useful? How many of them actually display anything more than a number - which is the same as a badge, only more difficult to spot. 99% of all "live" tiles are just app icons.Android has WIDGETS. They come in all sizes and are able to carry much more information -i.e. are more useful- than a tile could ever dream to be.

A Live Tile can carry just as much information as widgets. Apps that only use it for number are either constrained by their type of data or didn't fully utilize the concept.

Apple's alleged "hardware longevity" as a positive is a shame. The sword swings both ways if android has a weakness because it suffers from fragmentation than the iPhone has a weakness in that it doesn't support legacy devices (if you guessed the reason for this is fragmentation congratulations). You can run Jelly Bean on the G1. It might not run well, but with an android when the manufacturer deserts you the scene doesn't.

I have to tentatively agree with this. For the Nexus 4, at least, it's probably a given that it will see updates from Google for 2 or 3 years, and updates from CyanogenMod for as long as someone is interested in keeping up with it. Given that there's a lot of interest in the Android ROM community in porting the newest versions of Android to phones that reasonably had no expectation of ever being able to run it, such as older 700MHZ ARMv6 devices with 512MB of RAM and since the Nexus 4 has plenty of horsepower, is really nice hardware, and is unlocked from the very beginning, I expect to see support for it from the community for a long, long, long time.

I'm curious what the recommendation would be for an android phone that is not enormous. the 4.7+ inch screens are awfully large and make the phones barely pocket-able in my opinion.

Are there any well rounded androids in the 4.3" range?

Seems the RAZR M is the phone I hear praised the most in that size range.

The RAZR M (or RAZR i if you're not in Australia / want to use it on AT&T) are both very good phones that aren't huge. They're not even really 4.3" range - the tiny bezel makes them about the same size as the original 4" Galaxy S.

Apple's alleged "hardware longevity" as a positive is a shame. The sword swings both ways if android has a weakness because it suffers from fragmentation than the iPhone has a weakness in that it doesn't support legacy devices (if you guessed the reason for this is fragmentation congratulations). You can run Jelly Bean on the G1. It might not run well, but with an android when the manufacturer deserts you the scene doesn't.

I have to tentatively agree with this. For the Nexus 4, at least, it's probably a given that it will see updates from Google for 2 or 3 years, and updates from CyanogenMod for as long as someone is interested in keeping up with it. Given that there's a lot of interest in the Android ROM community in porting the newest versions of Android to phones that reasonably had no expectation of ever being able to run it, such as older 700MHZ ARMv6 devices with 512MB of RAM and since the Nexus 4 has plenty of horsepower, is really nice hardware, and is unlocked from the very beginning, I expect to see support for it from the community for a long, long, long time.

I'm always curious as to why things like CyanogenMod even come into the equation when talking about a phone's longevity. Rooting and installing CM on a phone is not something that regular people are ever going to do - they're going to use their phone with the OEM/carrier-supplied software (and whatever "official" updates come down), and that's it. Apple takes care of all of its phones in some fashion for a good 2-3 years after release. On the Android side, you're left at the mercy of a fickle (and largely unpaid) hacker community. Not even comparable.

"Windows Phone 8's update situation should be less complicated—while carriers can choose to delay updates if they wish, Microsoft promised that end users will be able to circumvent this and install the updates anyway."

Bull. Shite.

Windows Phone 7.5 was supposed to have this same seamless update situation. Instead, Microsoft decided that everyone who invested in a WP7.5 handset could not get WP8. Full stop.

They'll get WP7.8, at some amorphous point in the future, which will include some cosmetic changes but no under-the-hood fixes that let you, say, get Skype calls in the background. If you bought a Lumia 900 this summer, your handset just got end-of-lifed after 6 months.

Based on this history, there's no reason to believe anyone with a WP8 handset will get updates in the future.

Perhaps, but may I just add that my Galaxy Nexus is still sitting on 4.04 and that's a Google phone supposedly immune to vendor interference. At least I can side-load the update (when I can be bothered) but it's still almost as ridiculous.

Let me guess, you have a Verizon GN? I agree, that was a complete clusterfuck. Not really comparable to the WP8 upgrade clusterfuck though; at least you can sideload, and at least that's an anomaly and not the situation across the entire line.

I'm interested in connectivity. I'm a Sprint customer. Sprint won't have LTE in my area until next year.For now I can use WiMax on Sprint's network and on Clearwire, through a deal Sprint has with Clearwire.

Next year I can get an LTE phone, and get LTE on Sprint's network, but not on Clearwire's. "Why not Clearwire?" you may ask. "Isn't Clearwire also converting over to LTE next year?"

Yes it is, but none of the Sprint phones available today will work with Clearwire's LTE network. You have to wait until next year's phones come out to get a phone that will work with Sprint's LTE -and- Clearwire's LTE.

So, for my needs, none of the phones available today, from any vendor, is acceptable.

Microsoft should have just pulled an Apple and just given the WP7 users an upgrade called WP8 instead of WP7.8. Doesn't Apple update iOS for many devices but withhold differing key features for older hardware?

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.